Police boost presence on Route 3 in Arundel

Anne Arundel County police and state police are cracking down on aggressive and impaired drivers on busy Route 3 this month.

Since Nov. 8, county police officers and Maryland State Police troopers have stopped 626 drivers and arrested 12 drivers for drunk driving, said Justin Mulcahy, a county police spokesman.

The "wave of enforcement" will continue at least through the end of November, Mulcahy said.

Officers are looking for distracted, impaired and unsafe drivers, he said. They also hope to educate drivers on how to be safe around the holidays, especially by not driving after drinking.

So far in 2013, there have been three fatal crashes on the section of Route 3 that runs through Odenton, Gambrills and Crofton.

On March 10, a motorcyclist was struck and killed on northbound Route 3 in Gambrills. Police and prosecutors say the driver of the car that struck the motorcycle, Elizabeth Haley Meyers, was texting while driving and have charged her with vehicle manslaughter.

On Aug. 27, an adult and two children were killed in a multi-vehicle pileup on southbound Route 3 near the Route 32 ramp.

Then on Oct. 4, a woman was killed in nearly the same spot in a two-vehicle crash.

Mulcahy said that Route 3 is a local road that carries as much traffic as an interstate highway.

"It's a very busy road. It's a thoroughfare right through the county," Mulcahy said.

The deaths on Route 3 are among the 27 deaths from 23 fatal crashes investigated by Anne Arundel officers so far this year. That doesn't count crashes in Anne Arundel investigated by state agencies.

The Route 3 initiative is a combined effort of Anne Arundel County police, Maryland State Police, the State Highway Administration and the Anne Arundel State's Attorney's Office.